Author details polio battle

KENNEBUNKPORT — Noted historian David M. Oshinsky addressed a gathering of supporters of Kennebunkport's Louis T. Graves Memorial Library at the Kennebunk River Club Casino last Friday evening.

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By Bob Dennis

seacoastonline.com

By Bob Dennis

Posted Aug. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Bob Dennis
Posted Aug. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

KENNEBUNKPORT — Noted historian David M. Oshinsky addressed a gathering of supporters of Kennebunkport's Louis T. Graves Memorial Library at the Kennebunk River Club Casino last Friday evening.

Oshinsky's book "Polio: An American Story" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2006 as well as the Hoover Presidential Book Award. The book meticulously describes the terrible toll that the polio epidemic took in America during the first half of the 20th century as well as the uplifting story of how the country came together in a momentous battle to conquer the disease.

The epidemic found its victims mainly among young people in urban areas but the path to a cure began when the disease claimed a most unlikely victim, 39-year-old future president Franklin D. Roosevelt. As president, FDR founded the March of Dimes, the first campaign of its type to use "Madison Avenue" techniques — including "poster children," movie newsreels, and use of celebrities — to raise public awareness and public philanthropy to unprecedented levels. Moneys raised would go both to support victims and to fund research aimed at a cure. The historic success of the March of Dimes in achieving its daunting challenges made it the "gold standard" for any future campaigns of its type.

Oshinsky described the intense rivalry between scientists Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin to come up with the first successful vaccine. Church bells tolled across the country when Salk's vaccine was declared effective in 1954 although Sabin's ultimately became the vaccine of choice. Oshinsky related the fascinating story of how both Salk and Sabin might have become footnotes to history if Isabel Morgan, perhaps the most talented researcher of the three, had not terminated her work prior to its conclusion in order to raise a family.

The author's talk included a number of personal anecdotes, including how as a young child in New York City he was among the 1.3 million who were given the early vaccine (or a placebo) as part of the government's massive testing procedure.

Oshinsky described the ongoing efforts of the World Health Organization and the Bill Gates Foundation to finally eradicate polio in some third world countries where it still exists and also discussed other epidemics like smallpox and the current battle against EBOLA. But he concluded that there is unlikely to be another situation similar to how the U.S. came together with its heart, its minds, and its dollars to conquer polio.